1. Field of the Invention.
This invention relates to wire-carrying frames for easy dispensing of electrician's wire. More specifically, this invention relates to an A-frame wire caddy which may be set up for quick and stable dispensing of wire from multiple spools and may be folded to a compact and easily-stored shape.
2. Related Art.
Various holders have been designed for wire spools, in order to make access, handling, and unwinding of wire easier. Marcell (U.S. Pat. No. 3,990,653, issued Nov. 9, 1976) discloses a wheeled cart with turntable-style supporting bases upon which coils of wire are laid. Marcell includes a tray and tool box supports. Howard (U.S. Pat. No. 4,006,865, issued Feb. 8, 1977) discloses a system with wire dispensing reels for use with box wire. McDonald (U.S. Pat. No. 4,391,422, issued Jul. 5, 1983) discloses a spool carrier having a rectangular main frame and a wheel system depending from a mid-portion of the main frame for wheeling the main frame around. Knight (U.S. Pat. No. 4,533,091, issued August 1985) disclose brackets, which hold spool-carrying bars, for mounting on the support legs of a free-standing ladder. The Knight brackets have pivoting cylinders which receive the bar ends and allow the bars to pivot out away from one of the ladder legs for addition or removal of spools. Link (U.S. Pat. No. 5,096,072, issued Mar. 17, 1992) discloses a fold-out carrying device shaped generally like a step stool with baskets in place of the steps for carrying items. Pavelka (U.S. Pat. No. 5,285,981, issued Feb. 15, 1994) discloses a wire dispenser with a rectangular frame perpendicular to a wheel axle, and spool bars extending horizontally out from both sides of the rectangular frame. Lambert, Jr. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,316,232, issued May 31, 1994) discloses a horizontal, table-shaped wire dispenser frame with spool-holders inside the frame. Edgar (U.S. Pat. No. 5,732,899, issued Mar. 31, 1998) discloses a selectively rotatable wire reel unwinding assembly, which has a plurality of spool-holding branches extending out at various levels from a vertical post. Beardslee (U.S. Pat. No. 2,957,644) discloses a dispenser reel rack having two sides connected by an ear and cotter pin system. To connect the cross bars to the rack, Beardslee uses spring-biased pivoting sleeves that surrounds a leg of one of the sides.
Still, there is a need for an improved wire spool holder and dispenser that is economical to manufacture and convenient to use. There is still a need for such a holder-dispenser that is compact and foldable, and that has a minimum of parts and structure.